Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Gennady Gatilov, expressed his country’s support to holding a ‘Geneva 2’ meeting for solving the crisis in Syria to discuss specific implementation of Geneva Statement items.
Syria’s foreign minister invited the country’s rebels on Saturday to lay down their weapons and take part in a national dialogue, saying everyone who participates will be included in a new Cabinet with wide executive powers.
Because Syria is a country of paramount importance, the issue there is not just about toppling the regime, while retaining the same inherited and historical structure, including the ideology, of the regime itself. Indeed, we are dealing here with a smaller version of countries like Germany and Japan after the Second World War, in that they were countries whose internal circumstances led them to destabilise their regions and subsequently the world.
President Assad spoke Sunday, amid rapturous chanting from loyalists that they are with him with “all their blood and soul.” His speech was met by a roar of protest and mocking from Syrian citizens and opposition groups, as well as the international community. This was his first public speech in six months.The opposition says he lives in isolation and does not know what is going around him.
While media reports talk about a new round of talks between the Russians and the Americans over Syria, a senior member of the opposition says that “Bashar’s departure is the essential demand of the Syrian revolution,” indicating an Egyptian role in marketing a Russian plan.
The Russian foreign ministry said Lakhdar Brahimi will hold talks in Moscow on Saturday following consultations with President Bashar Assad’s regime in Damascus, at his request.
